Dearest readers,

This is the fourth installment of Going, Going, Gone, I don't have much to say about this chapter, as I did about the others so I guess we'll just move on from here. Haha.

A special thank you to my latest reviewer and in response to their review; xox-twilight-xox, yes I will be continuing the story, I think it may end up a bit longer than I had originally planned. As for when I update, I try to get a new chapter up everyday, but with school starting again for me that may cut down a hair to like, every other day, or something of that nature. However, I will try my best to update as often as I can. I'm glad you're so interested in the story I'm building, thank you for your input, I look forward to hearing from you again.

Feel free to review, I love criticism – well, constructive criticism, anyway – and I'd be happy to answer any questions you all may have. Anyways, I'll stop babbling now; enjoy.

- KaeJoe

P.S: Sorry for any spelling/grammar mistakes, I'm half asleep.


'Okay, okay, breathe. Chihiro. Breathing is good. Yesiree, breathing is good..'

Taking a shaky breath as she watched, mesmerized by how smoothly this person moved, Chihiro came to the realization that she had been holding her breath, this sudden development brought on by a sharp pain in her chest and the appearance of black dots in front of her vision. Opening the back of her throat, she welcomed in a blast of cool air that expanded her lungs and cleared away a bit of the headache that had come as a result of her lungs voluntary cease of functioning; she registered that he had asked her a question, 'what are you doing?', but for some reason she couldn't come up with an answer that justified her reason for standing outside the tunnel with a knife in hand, ready to end her own life. Her lips moved soundlessly, like a fish gasping for water in the open air, before she finally shrugged meekly, and twisted her fingers together in front of her, lowering her head in shame.

It was a terrible thing that this stranger – as she refused to believe it was Haku, that just wouldn't make sense - had to witness her melt down like this, what a terrible first impression she must have made. Chihiro cleared her throat, ignoring the nagging voice that had it spot on who this male was; "I'm.. Terribly sorry you had to see me like this. Things just aren't going very well." She mumbled, as though that made up for her actions, for her dire need to cease to exist.

What she figured he was going to say was already strong in her mind as she continued to twist her fingers, but she refused to look up, refused to see the shame in those strange emerald eyes, she couldn't deal with his judgment along with everything else that was on her mind. That was probably the reason that, when he finally spoke, she was so surprised that her head snapped up and she gave him an incredulous look. "Chihiro, do not act like you do not know me. I saw the recognition in your eyes, I saw the way your mind took you back ten years to the day when you first left," he spoke gently, and Chihiro's heart sang for just a moment, before it plummeted into the pit of her stomach, and she hardened her emotions.

"No. No way," she started, her tone a little less calm than she would have liked, "you don't know me, I don't know you."

A chuckle left Haku's throat, a sound of disbelief at her denial before he shrugged and leaned calmly against the wall of the tunnel. "Chihiro, say my name."

"I don't know your name."

"Yes you do. You gave it back to me ten years ago, you gave me a reason to fight Yubaba's control. Say it. Say my name."

Chihiro closed her eyes, and pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger; this simply couldn't be happening, her mind was making something up to keep her from acting drastically, she was hallucinating. That was all. "How do you know my name?" she finally asked, ignoring his demand for her to say his name, as though whispering out that one word would forever change her life, which, in all honesty, it would.

Kohaku sighed softly, and closed his eyes for a moment, counting quickly to ten to keep his demeanor calm and collected, to uphold his reputation of being the coolest spirit around. After a moment, he opened and lifted his gaze to the brown eyed girl before him, allowing a small smile to twitch across his lips at her unnerved expression. "You were very young, and you dropped a little pink shoe into my river, then fell in when trying to retrieve it. I saved you, pulling you onto my back and taking you to safety before returning your shoe. You were so very young, so impressionable. I was positive that that experience would remain I your mind forever, you most certainly remembered it ten years ago when you discovered my name. Dearest Chihiro, reach into your mind, dig deep, find the truth."

He watched for a reaction as he spoke, goading her to admit that she knew him, trying with all his will to be persuasive, and slowly, he extended a hand across the line into the human world, twitching subtly at the odd floating sensation that shuttered up his arm; he couldn't let the appendage remain long, or it was disintegrate before their very eyes, and would not reform when it was pulled back. "Take my hand.." he said softly, fully realizing that he was asking her to trust him, to realize that he was real, "please, Chihiro, take my hand."

Just as Haku thought, he was indeed asking her to trust him, yet for some reason, Chihiro did. Slowly, she extended her hand out, and placed it in his, feeling the warmth that radiated from his skin, permeating her flesh and warming her blood, and she finally lifted her eyes to meet his, her gaze curious and innocent. Shivering at the flood of memories that came from simply touching his hand, the girl shook her head slowly; "N-no, you can't be. He's not real," she muttered, peering deeply into his eyes to try and confirm his existence, her teeth finding her lower lip to suckle and bite in a nervous fashion. The male simply smiled at her, and tightened the muscles in his arm, pulling her across the threshold into the spirit world, tugging her against his chest to thread both arms around her, holding her from struggling.

Chihiro was shocked at first, and her hands immediately went to his chest to push him away, panic striking into her eyes; it wasn't every day that some random guy – cute as he was – grabbed her, and yanked her against his chest. "Haku! Let me go!" she cried out, not even aware that she'd used his name, until he shifted his hands to her shoulders, and pushed her back gently to look into her eyes, a full smile gently flooding over his and he nodded softly, giving her a squeeze, before releasing her shoulders.

"I told you, you knew me."